Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the US dollar continues to recover as the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) latest minutes showed that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has become cautious in its conduct of monetary policy.

He said major currencies such as the Japanese yen have been gaining momentum against the US dollar in light of the possible shift in the US monetary policy stance.

The 10-year US Treasury yield continues to slide to around 4.4%, while the odds of the federal funds rate cut in May 2024 have gone up slightly to 60% from 57% previously.

“Against such a backdrop, the ringgit is anticipated to perform better in the near term and steady appreciation towards its support level of RM4.5778 can be expected,” he said.

At 9.03am, the ringgit traded at 4.6620/4.6670 versus the greenback compared with Tuesday’s close of 4.6505/4.6560.

In the early trade, the ringgit was traded mostly lower versus a basket of major currencies.

It was weaker against the euro at 5.0909/5.0964 from 5.0895/5.0955 on Tuesday, lower vis-a-vis the British pound at 5.8480/5.8543 from 5.8271/5.8340 and was almost flat versus the Japanese yen at 3.1447/3.1485 against 3.1467/3.1504.

The local note also traded mostly lower against other Asean currencies.

It was marginally lower vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah at 301.8/302.4 from 301.1/301.7, fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.4838/3.4878 from 3.4775/3.4822 and depreciated versus the Thai baht to 13.2511/13.2725 from 13.1989/13.2201 yesterday.

However, the ringgit was flat against the Philippine peso at 8.40/8.41.